The invention relates to a coupling, suitable for use with wind turbines, for connecting the output of a transmission to the drive of a generator.
A coupling of this type is for example known from KTR Kupplungstechnik GmbH that is traded under the name RADEX®-N and that connects the transmission shaft to the generator shaft by means of an adapter manufactured from a glass-reinforced plastic. In addition, this coupling exhibits a sensor disk for speed monitoring, a torque-limiting system designed as a slip hub for protecting the transmission from generator-side load peaks and a transmission-side brake disk.
However due to the arrangement of the adapter between the transmission shaft and the generator shaft, this type of coupling requires relatively much space which runs counter to a compact design of a wind turbine that is increasingly asked for.
Over and above this, the installation of the coupling, in particular aligning the transmission and the generator or the transmission shaft and the generator shaft relative to each other, is very labor intensive and liable to faults, it being possible for a misalignment of the transmission shaft to the generator shaft to lead to an increased load of the bearing in the transmission and the generator. Although the transmission shaft and the generator shaft are connected to the coupling in a very simple manner by means of clamp rings, it is still necessary to adjust the distance of transmission and generator or transmission shaft and generator shaft, in particular the alignment of the axes during standstill and under load, in each case such that an optimum connection of the coupling to the transmission shaft and the generator shaft can be achieved.